RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)

  • France: Appeals Court Lowers Charges Against Police Officer Facing Trial for Murder of Teenager

    Source: US News & World Report

    “A French ⁠police ⁠officer initially charged with murder ⁠in the deadly shooting of a teenager in 2023 will ​instead stand trial for the lesser charge of voluntary assault leading to death, the Versailles ‌appeals court said on Thursday. Police officer ‌Florian M. had fired at Nahel Merzouk after the latter had failed to ⁠comply with ⁠an order to stop his car. The seventeen year old had later ​died from his wounds, sparking violent protests across the country. In 2025, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office said one of two officers under investigation, identified as Florian M., would face the Assize Court ​of Hauts-de-Seine on charges of murder. Florian M. appealed, and the court lowered the ⁠charges ⁠on Thursday. … Under French law, voluntary assault leading to death by a person holding state authority carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, compared ⁠with up to 30 years for murder.” (03/05/26)

    https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-05/french-appeals-court-lowers-charges-against-police-officer-facing-trial-for-killing-of-teenager

  • US Home Relistings Hit Record High In January

    Source: National Mortgage Professional

    “A pronounced increase in home relistings suggests U.S. sellers are gearing up for a potentially busier spring housing season, according to a new analysis from Redfin. Nearly 45,000 homes that were taken off the market in 2025 were relisted in January 2026 — the highest January relisting count in records going back to 2016, and equivalent to 3.6 % of all active listings for the month. Relistings occur when a home that was previously taken off the market is listed again after at least 31 days off the market, signaling renewed seller confidence. The surge follows a period in which many sellers withdrew homes rather than accept low offers amid declining demand, high housing costs, and economic uncertainty.” (03/05/26)

    https://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news/home-relistings-hit-record-high-january

  • Sea levels much higher than previously thought due to “methodological blind spot,” study finds

    Source: CBS News

    “Rising sea levels caused by climate change may be significantly higher than previously thought, according to a new study, which says a “methodological blind spot” led researchers to underestimate existing coastal water levels. The revelation suggests that higher seas threaten tens of millions more people than scientists and government officials believed, with elevated risks for already vulnerable communities. The new research, published in the journal Nature, reviewed hundreds of scientific studies and hazard assessments, calculating that about 90% of them underestimated baseline coastal water heights by an average of 1 foot. The study found it’s a far more frequent problem in the Global South, the Pacific and Southeast Asia, and less so in Europe and along Atlantic coasts.” (03/05/26)

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sea-levels-higher-methodological-blind-spot-study/

  • US jobless claims filings unchanged from previous week at 213,000 as layoffs remain low

    Source: Seattle Times

    “The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week was unchanged from the week before, a sign that layoffs remain at historically low levels. U.S. filings for jobless aid for the week ending Feb. 28 matched the previous week’s 213,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 215,000 new benefit applications. Filings for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” (03/05/26)

    https://archive.is/LZ15F


  • Why Donald Trump’s Iran War Is Unconstitutional

    Source: The Dispatch
    by Ilya Somin

    “The large-scale U.S. military attack on Iran (undertaken in collaboration with Israel) is blatantly unconstitutional, even if its wisdom and morality are more debatable. Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the exclusive power to declare war. One can debate the extent to which presidents can initiate relatively small-scale military actions, and such debates have raged for decades. But this attack is obviously large enough to qualify as a war. Thus, it just as obviously requires congressional authorization. President Donald Trump got no such authorization, nor did he even try. You need not take my word for the proposition that this is a war. Take Trump’s own. He himself has called it a war, and proclaimed that the objective is regime change.” (03/05/26)

    https://thedispatch.com/debates/donald-trump-iran-war-constitution-congress/

  • Thune and Johnson: A Tale of Two Orphans

    Source: Garrison Center
    by Thomas L. Knapp

    “In The Joy of Yiddish, Leo Rosten defines chutzpah as ‘that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.’ Ladies and gentlemen, meet US Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and US House Speaker  Mike Johnson (R-LA).” (03/05/26)

    https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20396

  • MAGA is shitting on our AI lead

    Source: Sex and the State
    by Cathy Reisenwitz

    “There’s no AI doomer who wants China to get the jump on the US when it comes to AI supremacy. At least that I’m aware of. So why did they all either support or remain silent about a guy who is leading a movement that seems Hell-bent on giving China that lead? Explain it to me like I’m five, guys who get paid half a million dollars a year to write about AI for a general audience? Surely I am not the dumbest of the people you need to convince. What does a country need for AI supremacy? 1. A thriving economy 2. World-class talent 3. State-of-the-art technology … The Trump admin is actively taking a giant dookie on all three of America’s advantages in the AI arms race.” (03/05/26)

    https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/maga-is-shitting-on-our-ai-lead

  • Donald Trump’s Unjust and Unconstitutional War

    Source: Antiwar.com
    by Andrew P Napolitano

    “Over the past weekend, some apologists for President Donald Trump’s recently ordered attacks on Iran argued that because Trump’s plans call for a quick strike, the attacks do not constitute a war. George Orwell is vindicated yet again. These apologists believe that calling a war something else means it is not a war, and so moral and constitutional justifications are unnecessary. No rational observer looking at 2,000-pound bombs being dropped on military targets and thousands of missiles being fired indiscriminately at both civilians and military personnel in Iran can conclude that these events constitute anything but a war. That recognition triggers a series of analyses — moral, constitutional and legal.” (03/05/26)

    https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/03/04/trumps-unjust-and-unconstitutional-war

  • Vance Puts MAGA Ideology Above All Else

    Source: The UnPopulist
    by Berny Belvedere

    “JD Vance embodies MAGA’s corrosiveness. His wife, Usha, is the daughter of immigrants and a practicing Hindu. They have mixed-race children and a mixed-religion family. As Dalmia noted, Vance’s trajectory should have led him to embrace a Reaganesque vision of a shining city on a hill — his biographical background and intellectual formation should have made him a natural fit for a responsible conservatism that treats pluralism as a feature rather than a threat. Instead, Vance has gone in the complete opposite direction. He is positioning himself as the leading figure in an administration mercilessly kicking out of the country people like his wife and children by trying to build a coalition represented by every faction of the neo-right, no matter how reactionary.” (03/05/26)

    https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/vance-puts-maga-ideology-above-all

  • The US War Machine Is Run By Deranged Armageddon Cultists

    Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
    by Caitlin Johnstone

    “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave one of his signature ‘I don’t have a small penis’ tirades at the Pentagon on Wednesday, ranting and raving about the big, powerful, masculine war machinery that’s currently raining death and destruction upon the people of Iran. ‘We will fly all day, all night, day and night finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military, finding and fixing their leaders and their military leaders, flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital, flying over the IRGC, Iranian leaders looking up and seeing only US and Israeli air power every minute of every day until we decide it’s over,’ Hegseth bloviated, saying there will be ‘B-2s, B-52s, B-1s, Predator drones, fighters controlling the skies, picking targets, death and destruction from the sky all day long.'” (03/06/26)

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/06/the-us-war-machine-is-run-by-deranged-armageddon-cultists/

  • Trump’s Iran War Is Grounds for Impeachment, According to the Constitution

    Source: Independent Institute
    by William J Watkins, Jr.

    “The Founding Fathers rejected the European model. Our first charter of union, the Articles of Confederation, lodged all executive functions in Congress. Under the Articles, Congress possessed ‘the sole and exclusive right of determining on peace and war.’ The thirteen sovereign states were forbidden to engage in hostilities except in cases of invasion or imminent attack. So, what would the Founders think of President Donald Trump’s war on Iran? They would assume we have abandoned the U.S. Constitution and opted for the European model they rejected.” (03/05/26)

    https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/05/trumps-iran-war-is-grounds-for-impeachment-according-to-the-constitution/

  • Trump’s war of choice in Iran isn’t putting “America First”

    Source: Orange County Register
    by the editorial board

    “Setting aside any potential merits to war with Iran, part of the preparation should’ve included seeking explicit authorization from Congress. That would’ve allowed the American people, through their representatives, to decide whether it made sense to sacrifice American lives and American tax dollars on yet another regime change war. Instead, the president chose to initiate a conflict that has already claimed the lives of Americans and civilians, including hundreds of deaths at an Iranian girls’ school. These are not the outcomes Americans expected when electing the ‘anti-war’ president.” (03/05/26)

    https://www.ocregister.com/2026/03/05/editorial-trumps-war-of-choice-in-iran-isnt-putting-america-first/

  • Five Things to Know About Trump’s Illegal War on Iran

    Source: OtherWords
    by Khury Petersen-Smith

    “The Trump administration has joined Israel in launching large-scale attacks across Iran. The strikes mark the beginning of ‘major combat operations’, according to President Donald Trump, and in response Tehran has reportedly launched retaliatory attacks in Middle Eastern countries that host US military bases. With hundreds of Iranians already killed and the war threatening to spiral out of control, here are five things Americans need to know: 1) Trump says he’s trying to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but it’s the United States and its allies that are the greatest nuclear threat. … 2) Trump is contributing to the suffering of ordinary Iranians, not rescuing them. … 3) The United States is an unreliable negotiator. … 4) The United States has been threatening Iran, not the other way around. … 5) Trump’s war with Iran [is] unpopular with Americans.” [editor’s note: I leave it to the readers to sort the facts out of this screed – SAT] (03/05/26)

    https://otherwords.org/five-things-americans-need-to-know-about-the-u-s-and-iran/

  • The Pretty/True 2×2

    Source: Bet On It
    by Bryan Caplan

    “I’ve written dozens of posts about Social Desirability Bias. Social Desirability Bias is the key psychological building block of my new book. When asked to succinctly explain Social Desirability Bias, my standard slogan is: ‘When the truth is ugly, people lie.’ This would be unexciting, however, unless some truths were, in fact, ugly. Which they totally are. For example: * Some children are stupid. * Some workers are lazy. * Some decorated veterans are racist. * Most human beings are unwilling to die for their countries. * God is rarely the most important thing in anyone’s life. Examples of ugly truths are so easy to mass produce that it’s easy to conclude that truth and ugliness go hand in hand. But it’s equally easy to mass produce pretty truths.” (03/05/26)

    https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-prettytrue-2×2

  • Why progressives’ single-payer health care dream would bankrupt California

    Source: New York Post
    by Sally C Pipes

    “California progressives’ single-payer health care fever dream is back. This time, the cost could hit half a trillion dollars a year. Single-payer means the government pays, for everything. Several candidates for governor are promising just such a government takeover of the state’s health insurance system. Billionaire Tom Steyer says, ‘Bernie Sanders was right. We need single-payer health care’. His campaign ads place a single-payer system at the center of his agenda. Betty Yee, Xavier Becerra, and Tony Thurmond are on board, too. Meanwhile, California State Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, has reintroduced legislation to create ‘CalCare’ (a bid to bulldoze private health insurance and replace it with a state-run health insurance monopoly). These are bold plans. They’re also complete fantasy. The California Legislative Analyst’s Office previously pegged the annual cost of CalCare at up to $552 billion — more than the entire state budget.” (03/04/26)

    https://nypost.com/2026/03/04/opinion/single-payer-health-care-would-bankrupt-california/

  • Central Banks Can’t Stop Wars

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Alexander W Salter

    “Central banks face pressure to absorb oil shortages and other shocks, but tightening money risks compounding the damage.” (03/05/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/central-banks-cant-stop-wars/

  • The Labour Party’s Political Geometry

    Source: Law & Liberty
    by Daniel Pitt

    “Since the present Labour government won a landslide victory on July 4, 2024, numerous English liberties of constitutional significance have eroded. Labour is influenced, I argue, by a type of rationalist blueprint theory of politics and by what Edmund Burke called ‘political geometry.’ This approach to politics has led them to undermine established English liberties in the name of efficiency, saving money, and improving local governmental systems. Furthermore, it has led them to postpone local elections in the name of these goals. Despite its promises, Labour has not achieved any of these goals due to its own incompetence and attachment to rationalist plans for local government modification, and the greatest victim in this mess is the British constitution.” (03/05/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/the-labour-partys-political-geometry/

  • On Iran, Spain’s Sanchez rises above the bowed heads of Europe

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Eldar Mamedov

    “While most European leaders have responded to the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran with condemnations of the Iranian regime and tepid calls for “de-escalation” designed not to offend Washington, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has unequivocally condemned the war on Iran as a breach of international law. Contrast that with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz who chose to insist at the war’s outset that ‘this is not the time to lecture our partners and allies’ about potential violations of international law. Meanwhile the the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer went to considerable lengths trying to have it both ways …” (03/05/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/spain-trump-iran/

  • US Media Only Care About Iranian Deaths When They Serve the Imperial Narrative

    Source: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
    by Belen Fernandez

    “The United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, propelling the entire region into a predictable cataclysm of unprecedented proportions. This puts paid to the alleged ‘peacemaking’ project of US President Donald Trump, who was supposed to be keeping the country out of international wars rather than actively seeking to expedite the end of the world. The attacks put an abrupt end to the negotiations underway between the US and Iran—to the delight of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has always viewed as anathema anything remotely resembling diplomacy or the pursuit of peace. Three days before the joint strikes, a Politico exclusive (2/25/26) reported that ‘senior advisers’ to Trump ‘would prefer Israel strike Iran before the United States launches an assault on the country’.”

    https://fair.org/home/us-media-mostly-care-for-iranians-when-they-can-be-used-to-justify-bombing/